Typhoon Mangkhut Hits China, Kills 40 In Philippines

Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into mainland China late Sunday after leaving a trail of destruction in Hong Kong and Macau and killing at least 40 people in the northern Philippines. Most of them were in landslides caused by heavy rain.

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Thousands of people have been evacuated from Guangdong, and authorities there issued their highest warning level, a red alert.

Provincial authorities said they evacuated a total of 2.37 million people and ordered tens of thousands of fishing boats back to port before the arrival of what Chinese media has dubbed the “King of Storms”.Earlier, the world´s biggest storm this year felled trees and sent skyscrapers swaying in high-rise Hong Kong, injuring more than 200 people there before making landfall on the coast of Jiangmen city, in southern China´s Guangdong province.

Mangkhut left large expanses in the north of the main Philippine island of Luzon underwater as fierce winds tore trees from the ground and rain unleashed dozens of landslides.Hong Kong weather authorities issued their maximum alert for the storm, which hit the city with gusts of more than 230 kilometres per hour (142 mph) and left 213 people injured, according to government figures.

As the storm passed south of Hong Kong, trees were snapped in half and roads blocked, while some windows in tower blocks were smashed and skyscrapers swayed, as they are designed to do in intense gales.The Philippines was just beginning to count the cost of the typhoon which hit northern Luzon on Saturday. Authorities said they would continue efforts in the morning to dig out a group of roughly two dozen miners who are feared dead after their bunkhouse was hit by a landslide near the northern city of Baguio.

In the town of Baggao the typhoon demolished houses, tore off roofs and downed power lines. Some roads were cut off by landslides and many remained submerged.